Observation Of Philharmonia's Performance In High School

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“Philharmonia’s first concert of the year got everyone on board,” Junior Katherine Lee stated after her performance with our school's most prestigious orchestra. On Sunday, October 18th, Arlington High School’s very own Philharmonia traveled to New York City to perform at this year's Opening General Session of the New York State School Board Association’s meetings. Senior Gianna Tucci performed the National Anthem in front of 1200 NYSSBA attendees and Philharmonia’s string players performed three pieces for the conference; Hoedown by Aaron Copland, Irish Tune from County Derry by Percy Grainger, and Strange Humors by John Mackey. An interview with Jonathan Handman, conductor of Philharmonia at Arlington, revealed several insights on …show more content…

“It was different because there were many people there, around 1200, and I felt like I had to represent Arlington more, and that the performance had more of a purpose.” Handman concluded that Philharmonia’s participation at NYSSBA was a valuable experience and that he would consider applying the orchestra again in the future. The large audience, consisting of all the superintendents and board members throughout the state, was also a very focused audience. The adults were there to see, feel, and experience what the students are doing throughout the state, so it is exciting that Arlington had the opportunity to showcase its talent with pride as it represented in front of New York at the event. There were also large screens projecting close up images of the students while they performed. Junior Katherine Lee explained her reactions to playing in the aisles at NYSSBA. “We originally thought there were only going to be 800 people, but when we arrived, we found out there were 1200 people there. Rehearsing in the empty hall at Arlington was different compared to when we played at NYSSBA, where we could feel the presence of the audience while we played. It was intimidating to play next to someone. But afterwards, we received compliments from people who listened to us intimately, and they really enjoyed it. It was a lot of

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